Try a Twist on Triangles, it's Truly Easy!!!

I haven't blogged in quite a while. I have been quite busy with three other non-quilting projects. Changing the color of all our cabinets, creating a fairy house and garden for a co-worker's birthday and turning her desk into pixie hollow, and finally sewing cooling neck bandannas for girls going to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Girls Camp. Busy, busy, busy.

Just before I took on those massive projects, two are done and the cabinets are still a work in progress, I did finish a quilt for one of the Sister Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We have the LDS missionaries living with us, therefore, I plan to make each one a quilt before they leave our home to their next assigned area. Lofty goal, I know, but they'll remember their time with the Thompson's every time they look at their quilt.

Let me show you my inspiration, the finished quilt, and of course the step-by-step instructions so you can make your own fun with the quilt that I call "Triple Pattern Triangles".

My Inspiration

My Finished Quilt " Triple Pattern Triangles"

 

 

 Now for the How To... it's not as hard as it looks!!!!

To begin, I will be honest, it will take some time to cut, press, and sew all the triangles depending on the size of block that you cut in the beginning. The larger the square the faster the project with go.

 

 

Choosing your fabric will be strictly up to you and your creativity. I found these fabrics: 

 

Black and red are the Sister Missionary's  favorite colors so I found both of these fabrics at Walmart. I love Hawaiian prints and I fell in love with the red and black circles, They were perfect. For a different look see the inspiration picture for fabric and layout ideas.

The next step is to decide what size block you want to use. I would not go any smaller than a 5" block but you can go as large as you want... 10", 12", 19" the fabrics the limit!!!

I chose to use a 5" but I think the next time I'd like to do either  an 8" or 10".  If I remember right, I believe I purchased 2 yards of each fabric.

I then cut both fabrics into 5 1/2" strips, as many as I could get out of each fabric.

I then cut the these strips into 5 1/2" squares and kept the fabrics in separate piles. This will come in handy with the next step.

 After cutting the 5 1/2" blocks from both fabrics and placing them into two different piles, I used the Jenny Doan, of Missouri Star Quilt Company, 1/2 square and 1/4 square triangle easy technique. This technique is amazing!!!!

Take one block from each pile and place right sides together. (Pretty sides facing each other). Then sew a 1/4" seam around the entire block. It doesn't matter which side you choose to sew on. Pick a side, any side. And sew, sew, sew!!! It helps when you have a friend to sew with. This is Caesar, my quilting Min Pin.
Don't forget you can chain piece these to make it the job go even faster.


Your blocks should look like this: 

No comes the magic!!! How to get 4 triangles out of this one square with only two cuts and sewing once time. Alachazoo a mysticalboo and Bibiddi Bobbidi BOO!!!







Magic, you now have 4
 perfect 1/4 square triangles

Let's take this slowly. Take a ruler and place it on the diagonal of your block and make a cut with your rotary cutter using your ruler as your guide. 2nd, Turn your block carefully, to keep the 1/2 square triangles together or you reposition yourself, and cut on the opposite diagonal again using your ruler as a guide. Voila!!! You now have 4 perfect 1/4 square triangles.
 

I got into my quilting zone that I didn't realize how many blocks I actually sewed and cut into these triangles. I made this quilt up as I went. Once I'm in the zone I lose track of time, what the animals are getting into...

 

      

and where they sneak off too...

 oh it's nap time for Caesar.

 

and how many triangles I actually needed to make. I think I got a little carried away. Nope, I made enough to go 12 triangle blocks across and 17 triangles down. I know it sounds INSANE!!! But remember I used small a 5 1/2 " block and cut those into four triangles. You'll use less if you make your original blocks larger. I also was making this quilt for a tall young woman and I wanted to make sure she had enough quilt to cover her toes.

 

Look at my pretty pile of triangles!!!!!

 

 

Next step: Take a triangle and set the seam. That simply means, grab the iron, and run it over the stitches before pressing the block open.

 Open your triangle with light fabric on the table. We are going to press open all of our triangles.

 Press every triangle toward the dark fabric. This is going to help us when we sew the blocks and rows together. This is a key step in getting all of our points to match up and allow us to easily nestle each block with the next.

 After you press open your block to the dark side you will end up with little rabbit ears on all four corners. We do not want those therefore, we are going to get rid of them.

 Take a small pair of scissors, you could use your rotary cutter and ruler but it's much easier to do it this way, and snip off the rabbit ears.

It should look like this on all four corners. You will have a nifty pile of these rabbit ears after you snip them off every block that you have pressed.

Now you have a perfect square in which to turn any which way you want to change the way your quilt will look. This is the twist part of the title.  You can get a different look depending on which way you turn your blocks. Go ahead, get creative before you sew your blocks together.

 Can you see something that doesn't quite belong on this quilt? Does it look like I made a mistake in my placement of blocks? Look closely!!! What do you see?

 Now it's time to test out your design skills. Lay out your blocks and see what designs you can make by just twisting and turning each block. Lay it out several times until you reach the look you love.  Remember when I said to look closer. I added a second pattern in the middle of the quilt. Let's get a closer look, shall we?




Just turning 4 corners to the center
 I created a diamond.

 Time to sew the blocks into rows. Take two blocks and place them right sides together and sew a 1/4" seam until you have completed your first row. I have 10 in each row. Sew and Repeat.

 

It's always a joy to have some help in the quilting room. Bremley the Quilting Kitty makes sure my fabric does not fall off the table and that I don't lose my place when I'm sewing blocks together.

   

Once you have all the blocks sewn into rows, now it's time to sew the 2nd row to the 1st row. Don't forget to lay out your rows to make sure your pattern is still the same. Have a quilting partner assist you with this stage of the project. Note: Bremley the Quilting Kitty is always the perfect helper.

Border Time: I chose to use up some of my fabric from a previous project as the border. I cut a  The quilt wasn't quite large enough even after I had sewn on a 2 1/2" black Leaf border.

 I got my creative juices flowing and came up with the idea to take my 5 1/2" blocks and strips that I had left over and created a second border. It turned out beautifully!!!!

Quilt with final border
. It's finally the size I had envisioned!!!

 The final step was to put on the backing and turn the quilt. I was pressed for time so I didn't use a binding. I found a cute heart fleece fabric from Joanne's Fabrics and put the quilt top and fleece right sides together, sewed a 1/4" seam all the way around.(Except for a slot to pull the quilt through). Sewed up the opening for turning the quilt and it was complete!!!



 I hope this jump started your creative juices and you try out a quilt with 1/4 square triangles. They aren't as scary as they look or seem.

 

 

Happy Quilting from Bremley the Quilting Kitty, Caesar the Quilt Tester, and Me, the Quilter!!!